Due to information of on the new coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) the German airline Lufthansa Group has canceled all winter flights by Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines to and from China. Their winter flights end on March 28, 2020. Flights to and from Hong Kong, will see capacity adjustments. They have also announced today that they will freeze new hires to lessen the impact on their budget from the coronavirus. Other measures include offering employees unpaid leave, canceling training courses, increase part-time work and cut cost in its administrative duties.
According to Market Watch, Lufthansa Group will comment on earnings on March 19 after the annual reporting numbers come out.
WHO puts out latest numbers on coronavius-19
According to WHO, thirty-nine countries are reporting confirmed cases of coronavius-19. Globally the number is 80,239, Japan reported 157 confirmed cases, South Korea has 977 cases, Vietnam has 16, Thailand reports 37, Iran confirmed 61 cases, Italy has 229, Canada report 10 and United States confirmed 57(40 are former passengers of Diamond Princess cruise. Those who have died from coronavirus-19 number 2,666 in China and 34 in other countries. In a press conference Monday, February 24, 2020, WHO representatives stated that new cases in China has decreased and there are now 41 countries that are capable to do testing for coronavirus-19.
Each country needs to prepare to detect and treat cases, follow contacts and put containment measures in place. Each country must do their own risk assessment because all countries have vulnerable people that are more susceptible to the virus than others due to underlying conditions.
Travel industry pull back on flights coming and going due to coronavirus-19
Lufthansa Group are not the only ones cutting cost and canceling flights, over 24 airlines have also cut down on flight routes to, from and around China because of the coronavirus-19 fear of spreading. Today Delta joined other US airlines by cutting their daily flights to Seoul to five times a week and stopped flights from Minneapolis to Seoul.
Hawaiian Airlines have also put a halt on services to Seoul starting March 2, 2020. British Airways quickly stopped flights to Milan, due to a downward demand in Travel to Italy. The airline, tourism, hotel and leisure cruise industry's across the world are seeing heavy losses right now as investors are more eager to 'sell' due to the coronavirus-19 spreading to more countries. There is no way of predicting the length of time it will take to get this virus under control. Will it forever change the way people travel? One thing for sure, it will take years for these industries to recover.
